Marchand unlikely to get harsh penalty
For the longest time, Boston’s resident rat, agitator, uberpest — pick your poisonous word — Brad Marchand has been like an alley cat with nine lives.
Well, seven, anyway; that’s the number of times he got away reasonably unscathed after pleading his case to the NHL’s department of player safety for crossing the line with his excessively dirty play.
No. 8 comes Thursday morning, when he will be asked to explain why he chose to viciously ram his stick between the legs of Tampa Bay’s Jake Dotchin and into the most sensitive of areas.
Marchand deserves at least a five-game suspension, but given the history of soft touches from the DOPS, he’ll probably escape with two games, missing Thursday’s game against the Ottawa Senators and the regular-season finale.
If it were the first time Marchand had crossed the line, maybe there would be some room for the DOPS to offer him a slap on the wrist and tell him to behave better. We all know that’s not the case. Here’s the list of ugly Marchand incidents that resulted in punishment: February 2017 (dangerous trip on Niklas Kronwall, $10,000 fine), December 2015 (three-game suspension for clipping Mark Borowiecki), January 2015 (twogame suspension for slew-footing Derick Brassard), January 2012 (five-game suspension for clipping Sami Salo), December 2011 ($2,500 for slew-footing Matt Niskanen) and March 2011 (two games for elbowing R.J. Umberger in the head).
From head to toe — and now, in the nether regions — Marchand has the whole body covered.
Even as Marchand has become a standout offensive player, starring on a line with Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron on Canada’s gold medal-winning World Cup squad before his 39-goal season with the Bruins, he clearly hasn’t learned to respect his opponents.
He deserves to miss at least some playoff time for the latest stickwork. Does the NHL have the courage to make that bold decision? MANY HAPPY RETURNS: The way Senators captain Erik Karlsson sees it, Clarke MacArthur is the perfect student, knowing all the intricacies of the structure employed by Sens coach Guy Boucher.
“He probably played the system better than the rest of us (because) he’s done such a good job of observing,” Karlsson said of MacArthur’s return against Detroit. “It’s all smiles around here. We’re all really happy for him. It’s really good to see him the way he is. He has really worked hard every day in order to get into game shape and be able to come back this year.”
MacArthur, who hadn’t played since Oct. 14, 2015 due to concussions, called it the most nerve-racking game of his career. At game’s end, he was fighting back tears.
MacArthur played 9:44 against Detroit, including some time on the second power play unit. The expectation is his ice time and responsibilities will increase as his comfort level and confidence returns.
ROSTER SHUFFLING?: The return of MacArthur bumped Colin White from the lineup, but could White get a shot against the Bruins? If Boucher makes that move, former Bruin Chris Kelly is a candidate to come out. Kelly played only 6:51 against Detroit and was only 2-for-6 on faceoffs.